Environmental and Ecological Engineering’s graduate program ranked No. 9, undergraduate program No. 12 nationally

U.S. News & World Report ranked Purdue’s Division of Environmental and Ecological Engineering’s graduate program No. 9 and its undergraduate program No. 12 among the best environmental engineering programs in the nation for 2024, an impressive accomplishment, Purdue officials say, considering how new the program is.

In 2013, after seven years of growth and development, the ABET-accredited program at Purdue awarded its first 10 bachelor’s degrees.

Dianne Kaminsky was among those first 10 graduates. Now a senior environmental engineer at Burns & McDonnell in Chicago, she reflects on her time in EEE. “I was drawn to the multidisciplinary framework of EEE and the community it was creating with students and staff,” she says. “I fondly remember spending hours in Dr. Larry Nies’ and Dr. Chad Jafvert’s offices discussing every topic under the sun.”

Kaminsky mentored EEE senior Sam Spears last summer while he interned with the environmental services group and remediation department for Burns & McDonnell. Spears is passionate about sustainability and providing access to clean water.

“The research that I’ve done at my internship is having an impact in potable water infrastructure,” Spears says. “It’s ensuring these technologies are safe and available to municipalities that have aging infrastructure systems that might not necessarily be able to afford the time or cost of doing more traditional trench rehabilitation of underground pipes. It’s exciting to make this kind of impact.”

Based on his academic merit and community involvement, Spears received a 2024 Raftelis Leadership Scholarship through the American Water Works Association. A large contributor to receiving the award was his leadership on various research topics under Andrew Whelton, a Purdue professor of civil engineering and environmental and ecological engineering, including cured-in-place pipes and the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

The program is led by 21 faculty jointly appointed in EEE and seven schools or departments across Purdue.

EEE students discover and explore their own interests through a variety of experiential learning opportunities. Nearly 65% of EEE undergraduates participated in experiential learning in 2024. In a student survey, 32% of junior and senior students participated in service learning, and over 70% took part in an internship or co-op opportunity — a 10% increase compared to last year.

Summer 2024 EEE students worked across the country in curriculum-enriching positions, including a sustainability engineering internship at LyondellBasell in Houston; a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Environmental Branch internship in Louisville; and a co-op for the Packaging Corporation of America in International Falls, Minnesota.

Graduate students apply what they’re learning outside the classroom as well. In courses like Water Supply for Developing Countries, students have traveled to countries, such as the Dominican Republic, with communities currently lacking reliable sources of safe water to expand access through engineered systems, education and community involvement. According to Kaminsky and Spears, EEE is deserving of its high ranking. Not only that, the unit within the College of Engineering is fulfilling its intended mission and purpose.

“The EEE curriculum was designed to provide engineering students with a holistic perspective on the environment and how anthropogenic systems, including industrial entities, interact with the natural world,” says John W. Sutherland, professor and the Fehsenfeld Family Head of Environmental and Ecological Engineering. “Virtually every engineering decision has an environmental dimension to it. We are educating our students to be critical thinkers in light of available resources and modern world needs.”

EEE PhD student Amanda Lopez is in tune with the modern world’s needs. Her research group, led by associate professor Zhi “George” Zhou, recently developed a way to use viruses in algal lipid extraction that saves 92% of energy compared to industry standard processes. Lopez and the team wanted to take this further. Her research on cost-effective water treatment and energy production involves the use of microalgae.

“Our research aims to be a game-changing solution,” Lopez says. “Leveraging the photosynthetic power of microalgae, we’re developing a cost-effective and technologically accessible method to not only provide clean water but also generate renewable energy.”

Ever since graduating its first class in 2013, EEE has been aiming for impact, innovation and quality education. Undergraduate and graduate students take cutting-edge courses, apply their learning with hands-on experiences, and are supported by dedicated faculty and staff.

“As one of the newest disciplinary programs at Purdue, we’ve been in growth mode from the beginning,” says former EEE graduate chair John Howarter, a professor of materials engineering and environmental and ecological engineering. “I’m certainly proud of what’s been accomplished so far and looking forward to our next successes.”